Wow! God is doing some awesome things in many places around America and the world.

His
Spirit is being outpoured and we must continue to pray and believe for awakening in Catawba
County. After many years of ministry, let me make some observations about revival, cautions and
some general principles present in any real move of God.

1, All genuine revivals have their root in prayer. From the days before Pentecost in Acts 2 until
now, every awakening has been birthed and sustained by faithful believers who refused to be
content and stayed faithful in prayer. Tommy Barnett made a statement at His pastor's school
that everything happening in Phoenix was a result of prayer. He stated they do not talk about
prayer alot to the pastor's because they assume pastors and churches should already know this.
However, sometimes this is not the case. If we are hungry for a move of God, it is essential we
pray. Any purported revival that does not have prayer at its core will be short lived and a work of
man and not God. Find out where the prayer meeting is taking place and you will know where
God is moving by His Spirit.

2. All genuine revivals are founded on the Word of God. Throughout the scripture and church
history, the Word has been preached in fullness and great authority and power in spiritual
awakenings. Powerful, biblical preaching has always been at the heart of great moves of God.
Paul said " it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who would believe ( I
Cor 1:21)." God's intent in any revival is two- fold: To refresh the church and bring repentance to
the world. A revival without repentance is like a cloud without rain. Revival preaching opens the
way for the Holy Spirit to deal with the hardened heart of man and reveal Jesus to the world. The
gospel is still the " power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes ( Romans 1:16 )."
3. We do not gauge the validity of genuine revival by spiritual experiences alone but by the
guidance of scripture. The word is the " Plumb-line"of faith and practice. Having said that, there
are many examples of God's revealing himself to man in the word, we may not totally understand
today. We tend to evaluate manifestations based solely on our personal experience alone. If I
haven't experienced it, then it is not valid. The problem with doing this is that my walk with God is
limited to my finite nature instead of an infinite God. Pentecostals often use phrases such as "
Being slain or drunk in the Spirit. To those who have not been brought up around that kind of
terminology, it may seem confusing and even anti- biblical and one can certainly understand
reason for concern. To those new to biblical manifestations it might be better to say, " Being
overwhelmed by the presence of God," because there are many biblical examples of that kind of
experience. So that we are on the foundation of the word, let me cite 4 examples.

• When Ezekiel saw the glory of God, he fell facedown and heard the voice of God
speaking (Ez. 1:28). The Hebrew word for fell here is Naphal, which means to "
overthrow, overwhelm, slay, throw down, or cause to fall." The implication here is that this
was more then Ezekiel voluntarily bowing but an overwhelming presence of God that
brought Him to the ground.
• The prophet Daniel tells of an experience, where after seeing a vision from heaven, his
strength left him and he fell into a deep sleep with his face to the ground (Dan 10:9). The
experience was so overwhelming for him that a heavenly hand had to help him to his
hands and knees and then he stood up trembling (v.10). God spoke to him and he
received divine ability to function (v.19).
• When Paul was describing his conversion experience, he says the glory of God from
heaven caused him (and his companions) to fall to the ground (Acts 22, 26) and God
spoke to him. On can hardly imagine they all bowed together in unison and on cue as the
text implies otherwise.
• When John saw Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, he fell down as a dead man and then Jesus
spoke to him (Rev. 1:17). Please note, that each of these experiences was not just for
the personal benefit of the individual to feel good but that God had some specific
message he wanted to reveal to the person and then have them give that message to the
listener. In any spiritual experience, God is after life transformation.

There are other examples biblically and throughout church

history where God's presence has overwhelmed people
where they are at a loss for words to give adequate
description. Even the people said of the ministry of Jesus "
Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel ( Matt.
9:33)."My point in mentioning these is to be like the Bereans
who " examined the scriptures everyday to see if what Paul
said was true ( Acts 17;11)", even if we do not always
understand it. We must also remember, the Holy Spirit will
always draw attention to Jesus and not himself. If Jesus is
being glorified and lifted up, the Holy Spirit is at work and we
will not glory in the miracles but in the Jesus who performs
the miracles.

4.Throughout church history, all moves of God have had

excesses. Whether, we like it or not, this is an established
fact. This is when the guidance of scripture and proper
pastoral care are needed so fire does not become unbiblical
wildfire and flesh. A word of caution however: One of the
things happening around the country is that teens are
becoming ignited by the power of the Holy Spirit. As a matter
of fact, many of these outpourings are beginning with
teenagers. Sometimes their exuberance may need some
guidance but should not be squashed by those who have
become too proud to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth,
have nothing but criticism for things they don't want to
understand and are too embarrassed to " Let go and Let
God." The fact is, if some spiritual leaders can't control it,
they will try and stop it. I would rather have a spiritual fire that
needed pastoring then a valley of dry bones that haven't
moved toward God in 50 years. This generation is coming
alive in the Spirit and we must facilitate, not dominate the
Lord's intention in doing this. Do not be guilty of quenching
God's glory in this generation. I certainly don't have to extend
my hand to steady the ark. God can do that.

As we look toward the hope of the rain of God, Let's

remember that what we are seeing is only a small part of
what God is going to do. Rick Joyner from Morningstar calls
the present move of God just a birth pang. It is not the full
manifestation or revelation of spiritual awakening we are yet
to see. I am believing the Lord for His glory to invade
communities like the Lord did in the first and second great
awakenings where entire cites came under the influence of
the overwhelming presence of Christ that literally changed
the entire atmosphere of communities in America.
Anyone want to come along with me?
Pastor Mark
" Do not put out the Spirit's fire, do not treat prophecies
with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.
Avoid every kind of evil. (I Thess. 5: 19-21)."